Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a sheet supporting apparatus supporting sheets and an image forming apparatus having the sheet supporting apparatus.
Description of the Related Art
Generally, in image forming apparatuses such as printers, copiers and facsimiles, a configuration is known where a sheet supporting base on which sheets are supported is disposed in an elevating manner using a wire. The sheet supporting base is designed to be elevated when feeding sheets, so that a feed roller is abutted against a sheet, and lowered when sheets should be supplied on the sheet supporting base. Since the sheet supporting base is disposed as described in an elevating manner within a sheet storage portion where sheets are stored, vibration or shock applied when the apparatus is being transported may cause the sheet supporting base to shake and collide against the sheet storage portion, and the sheet supporting base or the sheet storage portion may be damaged.
Hitherto, a sheet feeding device taught in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2011-121723 has been proposed, where a packing material is mounted in a sheet storage portion and the packing material is adhered by tape to a sheet supporting base or surrounding materials, to thereby prevent damage of the sheet supporting base or the sheet storage portion that may occur during transportation. However, in such sheet feeding apparatus, if the adhesive force of the tape is weak, the tape may come off during transportation, and if the adhesive force is too strong, the tape may not be easily removed. Therefore, it was difficult to manage the adhesive force of the tape. Furthermore, if the sheet supporting base is fixed using tape or packing material, packing and unpacking required time, and was troublesome.
In contrast, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2005-170575 proposes a paper feed cassette that locks a lift plate to a widthwise cursor, by moving the widthwise cursor positioning the paper sheets in the width direction toward the lift plate.
However, the widthwise cursor taught in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2005-170575 is gripped and moved by a user, so that the user may erroneously fix the lift plate in an attempt to regulate the position of the sheets in the width direction using the widthwise cursor.